What is ” ECT ” therapy ?
ECT, or electroconvulsive therapy, is a treatment used principally to address severe depression — though it can be used to treat mania, schizophrenia or obsessive-compulsive disorder — which has not resolved with other treatments. In this procedure, which is repeated two to three times a week for several weeks, a physician sends an electrical current through the brain, creating a seizure that lasts for approximately one minute. This is done under anesthesia and is not felt by the patient, though when the therapy was first developed, it was done on conscious patients, often against their will. Today it is rare to perform ECT therapy on anyone who has not asked for the procedure. Electroconvulsive therapy is now considered a viable treatment, though it may cause some memory loss, and many people find their depressive disorders improved, as a result of undergoing it.
